Scorecard

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI v Old Chelmsfordians 2 on Sat 15 Jul 2023 at 1 pm
Purleigh CC Won by 4 runs

Match report PUFFED UP PURLEIGH PREVAIL AFTER PANIC

The Purleigh team treated themselves to a whirlwind of emotions on a squally day at the playing field, somehow managing not to flutter away a victory against a much-improved Old Chelmsfordian’s side when compared to the meeting of the two sides earlier in the season.

Put into bat on a track that had been hastily whisked into shape that morning thanks to the stormy conditions on Friday, openers Freegard and Taylor set about replicating that previous performance; a task performed to near perfection after Taylor departed caught out after a flurry of boundaries and the OC’s fielders once again failing to snuff out the key wicket of captain Freegard with an early dropped catch at point. In fact, so highly did they prize that particular wicket the best of the opposition bowling blew themselves out early on with long bowling spells trying in vane (sic) to get another sniff at it.

Various Purleigh batters huffed and puffed in support of their captain, none of whom managed to make notable contributions to the scorebook. Bowles Jnr struggled to get the wind in his sails and a period in the doldrums set in, departing after forty-seven balls for eleven. Vice-skipper Patel was able to breathe a bit of life into proceedings with a whirlwind twenty from eight deliveries but once again it was the skipper who went into hurricane mode towards the end of the innings as the lesser bowlers began to be blasted to all corners of the adjoining field as it started to hail cricket balls upon its equine inhabitants. Requiring three runs from the final ball of the innings to reach the double century it was one big shot that didn’t quite have enough air on it, well held on the deep long on boundary to wind up a magnificent batting performance on 197, setting a target of 291 to win.

In reply OC’s set about chasing it down at a decent rate of knots, especially when opening bowler Matt decided the best course of action was to try and make full use of the days air currents by bowling full tosses that were duly dispatched to where they belonged. Eventually he settled down into his zephyr to remove the opening bat with a delivery that was gusted round two different corners to graze the off stump, followed shortly by the number three bat heaving one into the heavens that was well taken on the deep square leg boundary by Shahid. 90-2 at drinks and things were looking good.

Unfortunately this was when Purleigh’s ability to catch a cricket ball vacated them and the hot-air of overconfidence in defending a large total came to haunt them as the other opening bat was dropped on a staggering four occasions on his way to 135, ably assisted by the No4 bat who made 71 it looked as though we had thrown the win away as a tempestuous atmosphere descended upon the fielding side.
It wasn’t until Jai had scrubbed himself down and puffed himself up with ball in hand to remove Davis at 241-3 that the winds of change began to blow, wickets started to fall in a flurry and hope returned. Taylor picked up the key wicket of Bagga just twelve runs short of victory as Shahid grabbed another catch and the batter trudged off the field utterly deflated by what he had done. This left Freegard to defend 11 runs off the final over and get us over the winning line after a real twister of a cricket match.

Despite such a fatuous performance normal service was resumed in the dressing room and Fox post-match as it was decided some much-needed fielding practice will be taking place on Tuesday night even though we had proven ourselves capable of dealing with the extremely flatuous weather conditions.

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RunsMB4s6sSRCtStRo
extras
TOTAL :
5nb 8w 7b 3lb 
for 7 wickets
23
290		        
Christian Freegard ct Sebastian 197 2
Josh Taylor ct Varghese 10
Steve Rynn ct Varghese 5
Andy Bowles lbw Gregory 11
Jordan Oliver ct Critchell 11
Jai Patel b Sebastian 20
Mark Rynn ct Sebastian 6 1
Melvin John Not Out  7
Matt Oliver   1
Shahid Yasin   2
Callum Annette  

Old Chelmsfordians 2 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Harry Arnold9.022100.002.33
Shyju Varghese9.0275237.508.33
Chris Gregory9.0042142.004.67
Alex Critchell9.0238138.004.22
Will Davies3.003800.0012.67
Noel Sebastian5.0059319.6711.80
Benny John1.00700.007.00

Old Chelmsfordians 2 Batting
Player name RMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
3nb 4w 5lb 
for 8 wickets
12
286 (45.0 overs)		     
Jamas Hodivala b M Oliver 41
Prabhjeet Bagga ct S Yasin Bowled J Taylor 135
Benny John ct S Yasin Bowled M Oliver 8
Will Davis ct C Freegard Bowled J Patel 71
Harry Arnold ct M Oliver Bowled J Patel 5
Shyju Varghese lbw J Patel 0
David Scarfe ct and Bowled C Freegard 8
Alex Critchell st M Rynn Bowled J Taylor 0
Chris Gregory Not Out  1
Noel Sebastian Not Out  5
Tom Arnold  

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Melvin John7.005300.007.57
Matt Oliver9.0147223.505.22
Jai Patel9.0058319.336.44
Shahid Yasin9.004800.005.33
Christian Freegard8.0057157.007.13
Josh Taylor3.001829.006.00